2 Doctor Who on K2
by lilurchin
Summary: Meg's first official trip with the Doctor is off to a rocky start. Top of K2? Try Area 51's basement. If getting arrested wasn't enough, homicidal aliens choose that moment to escape and get some long-awaited revenge. Being picked off one by one, everyone has a different idea of how to solve this problem, and the Doctor is outranked and outnumbered. (book 2)
1. Chapter 1: Off Track

book 1 - The Doctor and the Fury

book 2 - The Doctor and Area 51

_Meg's first official trip with the doctor got off to a rocky start. Top of K2? Try area 51's basement. If getting arrested for trespassing wasn't enough, homicidal aliens kept by the facility chose that moment to escape and get some long-awaited revenge. Being picked off one by one, everyone has a different idea of how to solve this problem, and the Doctor is outranked and outnumbered._

Along a dark and lonely road, a man doth walk in fear and dread

And having once turned round, walks on, and turns no more his head

For he knows a dreadful fiend doth close behind him tread.

The Mariner

**Previously:**

"So. Where to next?"

It was such a simple question, but the Time Lord smiling before her offered the universe, the possibilities staggered her. Suddenly Meg felt like a child again when the world was a lot bigger, and Papa had just asked the same question, laying a worn and heavy atlas in her small lap.

_Don't think. Just choose._ "Your planet."

Like flicking a switch, the light in his eyes went out, as if the magic keeping his corpse alive suddenly faded away, and Meg was standing before a zombie. She recognized that look from her mirror, and like him, she learned to hide it, because that look sucked all the good feelings from a room, alienated the normal people. The Doctor lost everything he loved.

He was just like her.

Cutting him off before he could tell her some half believable excuse for why they couldn't visit, Meg said, "Actually, maybe next time. Better idea. I've always wanted to go K2."

"Done." The Doctor took the reprieve and pulled a lever hurtling them into Vortex.

Too late to amend her choice again. She chose it because she was thinking of her parents. It was really one of the last places on Earth she wanted to visit…

**Chapter 1: Off Track**

With trepidation, she opened the doors of the TARDIS. She blinked in the harsh glare. There was snow blindness, and then there was this. "This isn't Pakistan. Pretty sure it's not China, either." At least not the area they were shooting for.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor yelled from deep inside the TARDIS.

"Well, there are no mountains," Meg shouted back, shrugging off her winter coat. "It's hot, dry and_ flat_."

The Doctor poked his head out of the TARDIS. "Where'd they put the Karakorums?"

"Not here," she answered. She couldn't find a place less like the Himalayas if she tried. _How could he have gotten the location off by so much?_

"Oh well, we're here now. Might as well make the most of it, soak up the rays."

"Are you sure we're even on Earth?" she asked, following.

"Of course we're on Earth." He answered, with a pout. Then under his breath, he muttered, "Probably."

"Should we bring water?" she asked. Deserts weren't exactly her thing. Neither were rainforests. She liked a nice balance — neither too much or too little water.

"We won't go far." He said, unconcerned. After all, he knew sooner or later someone or something would find them.


	2. Chapter 2: Dreamland

**Chapter 2: Dreamland**

"Sir!" Larry, a tech, raised a hand for the senior analyst. "Ground sensors have gone off in sector C18."

"Human?" Stevens asked.

"Side by side, walking in a straight line, so it's likely, but sir, the outer sectors didn't report anything. I've checked, it's not an error. Perimeter sensors are in perfect working order. It's like they just fell out of the sky."

"Air traffic?" The senior analyst asked, figuring they could have parachuted in – crazier things had happened. The nutcases were creative if nothing else.

"Nothing bigger than a hawk overhead, sir." Larry defended.

Stevens picked up the phone. "General? Intruders in Sector C."

"Send the boys out and bring them in this time – I want to know how they got past our perimeter sensors."

The General sipped his coffee in his office and waited. His position on the base was an envious one. Still, he couldn't help feeling bored now and again. The most action he got was chasing off harmless trespassers. His three permanent guests' novelty faded faster than his tan trapped here in this basement.

Thirty minutes later, his new guests were brought in. "The trespassers, General."

He turned. If he was an effusive man, he might have smiled – for the change of pace if nothing else. Instead, he stood and looked them over. "Let them go, Sanderson."

"Sir?"

"The Doctor is a freelance agent of Britain's UNIT task force and is a welcome advisor, free to drop in any time." He saluted.

"Don't."

"And Miss Savvides… don't bother uncuffing her. Surrender really isn't in her nature."

"Savvides?" A thin, rather geeky man perked up. "As in _Megara _Savvides?"'

The General ignored him.

"They know you?" the Doctor asked.

The General held out his hand and waited.

She used her teeth to tighten the binding around her wrists, then with a shout, flung her arms back against her hips. The plastic snapped. She dropped the broken zip tie into his hand. "Got another star, general, congrats."

"Wow." The General's aide said as Sanderson cut the Doctor free with a knife.

The General couldn't help a ghost of a proud smile. "Let me guess. Since my men had the Doctor secure, and they were moving you here, you figured you'd go along until you met someone in charge, take them hostage, steal a jeep, and ride off into the sunset, you, me and the Doctor."

"You'd be dumped on the side of the road at the first available opportunity… no offense."

"None taken. You're looking well." The general paused for a 'nice to see you too,' but Meg didn't respond. "Sorry about the rough treatment, you two. The boys don't get out much except to shoo away the crackpots. I'm General Lynch." He introduced himself to the Doctor. "Welcome to Area 51: codename Dreamland."

"Wow. This place really exists?" Meg said.

"It's always existed; it's what we have in the basement that's up for debate."

The thin man behind the general was fidgeting, looking for an opening to speak.

"And this is your fan club, Greg Mash. Greg, Miss Savvides."

"Call me Meg."

"It's an honor." the man smiled broadly. "I was sixteen when I heard your story, and I couldn't believe it. You must be the luckiest person on the planet."

"Or the unluckiest," Meg said, shaking his hand. "I haven't figured it out yet."

"I'm lost." The Doctor said.

"You don't know who you're traveling with?" Greg asked. "This girl, right? Alone, injured, and delirious with malaria survives three weeks in the Brazilian rainforest after - "

"You know this really isn't important." Meg interrupted with a broad, completely false smile. "I'm really interested in this base, General. Do you mind if we have a tour?"

The General thought about it. "Well, you're the Doctor's companion now, so I don't see why not. We're on a skeleton crew today, and the loonies are quiet."

"'Loonies'? Does that mean you don't have aliens on this base?" Meg asked, disappointed.

"You mean present company excluded? Our main purpose is testing classified aircraft …And sort of as a side project we research alien activity." The General chuckled.

The lights blinked out.

"Stay calm. The lights will come back in a second; we have emergency generators for this." The General said.

True to his word, the lights flickered back on.

"Check on the lab, I know they were planning on moving the creatures today. I don't want to be held responsible for any damage."

"No response sir." Sanderson reported a moment later.

The General turned to the soldiers who recently captured Meg and the Doctor. "Go check on them."

"These creatures, General…" the Doctor began.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them, Doctor."

"I'm rather bad luck when it comes to things like this."

"If only that were true, it'd be tremendous luck for everyone here – they've been dead for nearly fifty years."


	3. Chapter 3: Investigation

**Chapter 3: Investigation**

The General graciously put their communication on speaker so the Doctor could listen in. Everything was probably alright, but if it wasn't, an alien specialist would be handy.

"We're approaching the lab… Smelling a lot of alcohol…"

"What do these aliens look like?" the Doctor asked. "Do you have any photos?"

Absently, General Lynch reached into his desk and handed a file to him. _ Maybe the scientists dropped a bottle or two and are too busy cleaning it up to respond to pages?_ The General didn't believe it but hoped. He still couldn't quite conceive of the aliens being responsible – but his instinct was telling him, something was terribly wrong.

"These… these are Treveens." The Doctor said, flipping through the pages. "A family unit? Get out of there, captain!"

"Not without the doctors." Sanderson insisted.

"They're dead. Run." The Doctor stated tersely.

"General?"

"Keep going."

"Acknowledged."

Tense moments passed before Sanderson reported again. "No sign of hostiles, sir. The tanks are broken and empty, and doctors Addams and Neeman are dead. No sign of doctor Yo, yet."

"Contact!"

Gunfire. Shouts. A scream of pain cut short.

"Smith!"

Silence.

"Sanderson?" The General asked, pacing. "Answer, man."

Nothing.

Everyone jumped when the General's office door burst open. Sanderson entered sans earpiece, a man in a white coat close behind.

"The others?" The General asked.

"Smith is dead. We split up. I sent Peterson and Johnson to the computer lab to protect the techs. I came to collect you. We'll rendezvous at the armory. It's the most defensible."

"Good man. Dr. Yo, what happened?"

"I…I don't know. They just… came alive. They killed... I hid in the storage cabinet… oh, god…"

"Pull yourself together." The General ordered. "We're not out of this yet. I still don't understand how this could have happened, and now, after the crash and fifty years submerged in formaldehyde. It's impossible."

"Sanderson said _alcohol _was everywhere." Meg pointed out.

"Good point." The Doctor said.

"So what?" Greg asked.

"So you store a sample in one or the other," Meg answered.

Dr. Yo nodded. "That's right. Formaldehyde used to be the go-to for preserving samples, but it's too acidic for long term storage. We started the switch yesterday by putting them in a water bath. Today we started adding the ethanol."

"Formaldehyde is a powerful poison, they've put themselves into a self-willed catatonic state. When you pulled them out – they woke up." the Doctor said.

"Except for the baby." Dr. Yo said.

The Doctor stilled. Meg instinctively turned to the door, all senses on high alert, sensing danger second hand through his posture.

"The baby didn't make it?" the Doctor asked.

"The crash nearly severed it in two. I doubt it was ever in hibernation like the adults."

"Treveens. You have a family unit of Treveens and the baby didn't make it…"

"What is it?" Meg asked.

"They weren't the pilots; they were the cargo. They have paws, not fingers, how did you figure they built it, used the controls?"

Dr. Yo stammered. "We never found any other bodies."

"Vaporized on impact. Cheap Voc'7 models don't have the safety features for a hard landing. They're made for spaceports, or at most a planet with a thin atmosphere and low gravity. But Treveens, well, they can survive just about anything."

"When you said they were cargo…" the general asked.

"Probably headed towards Delphia, a moon 29 light years due north. It's the nearest system where the illegal gaming still goes on under the Shadow Proclamation's nose. Seed it with some participants, willing or unwilling, drop the two parents and one dead baby, and you're off to the races."

"I don't quite follow."

"Set a pack of dogs on a grizzly you've got a show royalty back in England used to watch. Same principle on Delphia. People bet how many people the Treveens take down before they're finally overwhelmed."

"That's horrible," Meg said.

"So's bear baiting. Treveens are peaceful most of the time, but the one thing that sets them off is if any harm comes to their young."

"How do we kill them?" the General asked.

"We don't." The Doctor said firmly. "There's a chance the baby survived – they can regenerate from almost anything. I'll go down to the lab and make sure. This can all be settled peacefully if the baby's alive. You all go to the armory. I'll meet you there."

The General grabbed the evacuation map from the hall and returned. "The armory isn't labeled." He explained, pulling out a marker. "If you don't know, then it's none of your business. Here's the armory, and this is the lab."

The Doctor nodded.

"I'm coming with you," Meg said.

"I should…" Greg said, torn.

"With me, Mash" Lynch said. "They'll be just fine without you."


	4. Chapter 4: the Lab

They found Smith's body before they reached the lab. Meg felt punched in the gut. The man was disemboweled, the smell of feces was overpowering. His face retained an expression of horror and pain. She wanted to vomit. She wanted to run the other direction. She forced her facial muscles to stay relaxed, her expression neutral. It helped that this wasn't the first dead body she'd seen. She could hear her teachers' voices in her head: _Don't give your enemy an inch._ _Are you in pain? Smile. Are you scared? Look bored. Your body is not the boss of you. You are the boss of your body._

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She said, kneeling and closing the man's eyes. _You died to protect others. There is no nobler sacrifice. May flights of angels see thee to thy rest._

They moved forward, quiet and subdued. They both knew more of the same would be waiting for them in the lab.

It wasn't long before they were before the doors. "Ready?" The Doctor asked.

"Let's get this over with."

Their shoes splashed through pink-tinged puddles of alcohol mixed with blood. The fumes made Meg instantly lightheaded. In the back wall of the room stood a huge fish tank with the front shattered. Glass cracked and popped as she stepped inside. The other walls had a whiteboard, shelves and cabinets and a deep sink. She didn't quite want to move her gaze to the floor, but at the same time, she couldn't help herself.

The Doctor quickly found a small grey lump on the tile floor and went to investigate. It didn't look like a monster. It looked like roadkill. Meg kept her distance all the same. The Doctor scanned the small, sodden body with his sonic screwdriver. He didn't bother scanning the scientists. One was headless, the other, in pieces. "Definitely dead."

"So what's plan B?" Meg asked, putting sodden copy paper over the faces of the dead.

"You mean, the general's plan?"

"Well… yeah."

"We're not killing them." He said flatly.

"Why not?" She snapped. "Look around. Look what they did."

"They think we're the bad guys."

Meg was incredulous. "So … what, you want to talk to it? They're animals; you can't reason with it, you can only put it down."

"They're scared and hurt right now. That makes them dangerous." _And they're not the only ones._

"Cry me a river."

_So much pain behind that hate._ The Doctor thought, studying her face. _Why? _"They were kidnapped. They crashed. They were in a toxic bath in a catatonic state. When they woke, their offspring was dead. Soldiers were shooting. Have we given them any reason to trust us? If all that happened to you, how would _you_ react?"

Meg looked down. "I hadn't thought about it like that. But you still haven't answered the question. What's plan B?"

"We run. We go back to the TARDIS. Keeping everyone separate, I'll transport the Treveens home."

"Let's get a move on, then," Meg said. It sounded like an overly simple plan, with steps he didn't share. But running and a few extra steps worked with the Verloc, maybe it'd work with the Treveens too. She was trusting him again. Her stomach knotted. Did he deserve it? Wanting to do the right thing and being lucky did not qualify as deserving.

They didn't make it to the armory. Down yet another long, whitewashed hallway, they crossed paths with one of the Treveen. The alien looked dog-like in the sense of four legs, one head, two ears, and fur, but it was the size of a tiger, with two tails, four completely black eyes, a beak and the teeth of a crocodile. Its fur was white and still wet, its muzzle was stained red with blood. Twin scars trailed the whole left side of its face.

_'__Mostly peaceful' the Doctor said? It looks like a killing machine,_ Meg thought.

It growled and charged. Meg drew a gun and aimed as well as she could with her trembling hands.

"No! Don't shoot!" The Doctor pushed to into an office and locked the door. _Where did she get that? _ He wondered. _Smith. As she was paying her respects, she stripped his corpse of his weapon._ With a thud the creature slammed itself into the door, splintering the wood. It wouldn't hold long.

"Why did you stop me?" Meg demanded.

"Were you ever on my side, or did you just want to go around my back with the General's plan?" He yelled and reached to take her gun.

She slapped his hand away. "Those men were killed, Doctor. Did you forget about them already? The state we found them in? That door's not going to hold long, and I'm not going to stand around and let myself get killed."

The Doctor looked at Meg, finding her stoic with her decision to kill. "So that's it? Kill it because it killed ours? Then what? Where does it end?"

Meg paused, unwilling to gang up on him when the General was a strong enough advocate for the creature's death. The door splintered again. If they were to travel together, an understanding needed to be made. "I'm not good with these kinds of questions. I'm aware there's a deeper philosophical meaning somewhere along the lines of 'violence begets violence' or 'violence never solved anything,' and I know it's true. Violence doesn't solve the root of the problem. Believe me, I don't go looking for fights, but the diplomatic solution is dead back in the lab. Simply and practically, in this situation, it ends with one or both sides dead. That's final enough for today."

The Doctor looked shocked and disappointed by Meg's answer. The door was giving way. One more hit and the Treveen would be in the room. "Ceiling." He said, jumping up on a desk, and moving aside one of the tiles. He gave her a boost and climbed up after her.

They crawled on hands and knees along the dropped ceiling in silence for what seemed like blocks.

"Look, Doctor…"

"Keep moving. Don't stop."

Meg grit her teeth. Time and a Place or Silent Treatment? She had a guess – the judgment rolling off him was suffocating.


	5. Chapter 5: Decisions

**Chapter 5: Decisions**

**The Doctor**

The Doctor crawled along sick at heart. Many of his other human companions found his alien-ness disconcerting at first, but they hadn't held it against him. He sighed. Maybe taking her was a mistake. But he had never misjudged so badly before. Yes, Meg was damaged, but so many other people could be his new pet project. She didn't trust him, how could he help her? She made her position on aliens abundantly clear.

So what if Meg looked an awful lot like…_ Her_. The Phoenix. Coincidence. Everyone has a double it's said, usually of the same species. The odds were astronomical, but it was theoretically possible. And it wasn't like Meg and Phoenix were exactly alike. Meg's eyes were a lovely light brown. Phoenix's were radiant gold. Meg was human, Phoenix definitely wasn't. Their hair was different too.

Besides that, they could be twins. On Meg's contemporary Earth alone there are an estimated seven other people sharing the same face. The number will inevitably increase with the population. Humans weren't the only ones either. Finding perfect doubles were rare but not unheard of in his life. Nyssa, Romana, Brigadier, Gwen Cooper. Several of his past faces even had doubles. Sometimes the duplicates weren't even the same species. In all likelihood Meg held no clues to the Phoenix, probably wasn't even aware of her existence.

But he felt… he just knew she was a companion. The problem was he couldn't tell if that feeling was from Meg or from seeing Phoenix's face. Every detail of that day was etched perfectly in memory. The cold bite of snow… her warm hands… her voice – Meg's voice. Her scent, Meg's scent (almost).

The Doctor rubbed his hands over his face. He didn't know what to think. Was he grasping at straws, hunting down any clue no matter how remote? Was that fair to Meg, making her an unwitting surrogate?

And yes, she had that impossible timey-whimey quirk hanging around her still. It hadn't dimmed. Now that he was aware of it, he found it highly distracting. He couldn't _not_ sense the warple now, but a little mystery wasn't enough to justify keeping her around. He had all the TARDIS' scans to review at his leisure. The universe was full of mystery, best not to get hung up on one tree and miss the forest.

And yes, the Master and the Matron both were interested in Meg. That was the hardest to wave away. It was in the universe's best interest to always deny whatever the Master wanted. And the Matron? She disappeared before the time war started under suspicious circumstance, a possible traitor… well, he was definitely a traitor. Still, that didn't mean he was on the same side. He never trusted her. There were other ways of keeping Meg from their clutches than taking her with him on his adventures. None of them were foolproof of course, and he would always wonder if one day out of his sight, the Master would find her and take her away for his nefarious purpose…

All very good reasons for her to stay with him, but none overcame the feeling he should take her home immediately following this crisis. His violent lifestyle turned many of his peaceful companions into soldiers.

But Leela was a warrior before joining him, he met Jaime the Highlander during a battle, and Ace was a juvenile delinquent and a fire-bug. In time he tempered them all into civilized companions.

He tolerated their tendencies because it was before the war. He'd grown sensitized to violence. He liked to keep pure-hearted, wide-eyed youths now. He didn't like the way she didn't flinch at the sight of a dead body, but he could adjust. It wasn't as if this was new, but he never had a companion with a darkness like Meg's: violence and hurt and anger – no – hatred.

People he had to talk down from killing another being were not people he invited into the TARDIS. And speaking of the TARDIS, she didn't like Meg either. He could tell these things in the rougher way she flew.

His waffling stopped. The TARDIS decided it. This would be Megara's last trip.

**Megara**

Meg had it up to here with the Doctor's disapproval. He seemed more concerned with the monster trying to kill them than with his own safety. Alien solidarity, she guessed, though it was oddly suicidal of him. The human life lost meant even less to him. He hardly spared a glance at the bodies littering the floor, studying the cub instead. She knew the Doctor thought her callous – which was a laughable hypocrisy.

She was grateful of course that the Doctor saved her life. It was a new experience, this debt. The last person to save her from certain death was Ian Masterson. It was… nice to have someone else have your back, but trust didn't rest easy in her heart, and her gratitude didn't mean the man could now run her life.

It was a shame because strangely, she felt they could be friends. Real friends. All her friendships were superficial, a consequence of her never staying in one place long enough to form a lasting connection. "Rootless" Aunt Dinah called it. Meg preferred "travel junkie," but she guessed her aunt had a point. She had no business calling herself a Bohemian or Traveler. They didn't have a permanent residence, but they at least had roots in each other. They weren't alone like she was. She had travel buddies but the trail inevitably forked, and they went their separate ways.

She thought she saw a kindred soul in him: damaged, restless and determined to keep unpleasant memories buried. She liked that he kept things personally superficial. She hated vulnerable, weepy conversations. She never knew what to say or do to make it stop. She sure as hell wasn't going to answer back with tears of her own.

The Doctor presented the ultimate in travel – all of time and space. He only asked the impossible. Kindreds and opposites, but at the end of the day, the trait that mattered most to him was that she was a world class martial artist champion with a healthy survival instinct and refused to be ashamed of that fact. She wasn't about to take his judgment meekly. She didn't need it or him. This was her last trip with the Doctor, and awesome time machine or not, she was in the wind.


	6. Chapter 6: the Cafeteria

**The Cafeteria:**

The light that reached them through the pores of the tiles blinked out. Meg paused, waiting for the generator to kick in like last time. It remained dark. Last time must have been a fluke, and every backup process worked the way it was supposed to. Therefore, this time one of the creatures found the generators. She shivered. More intelligent than your average animal then.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, and Meg took out her phone to light their way. The Doctor pried up a ceiling tile and looked down. The light of his sonic screwdriver dimly illuminated the room with an eerie blue light. She could make out a lot of tables. The cafeteria, she guessed.

"Looks clear."

Meg bit her lip, feeling safer up high. "Ladies first." She said. If the Doctor found her morals lacking, at least he couldn't bash her courage. She lowered herself through the opening until she was half hanging from the edge and paused. _Something's not right._ She thought and instinctively swung her lower body.

Something large just missed her, she felt fur brush her legs and caught a whiff of formaldehyde mixed with alcohol. Jostled, she almost lost her grip. The Doctor hauled her roughly back up before it could pounce again. The creature growled in frustration.

"It must have hidden under one of the tables."

"No shit, Sherlock." She panted, shaking with adrenaline. "Brazil… Brazil… Brazil…" she murmured, trying to ground herself.

"What's that?"

"Nothing." She gave him a bright smile out of place on her face. "Let's keep moving."

"You said Brazil. Why is that your mantra?"

"It's a beautiful country. We should go sometime."

"Mash mentioned Brazil, and you changed the subject."

She shrugged, still smiling innocently. "So?"

"What happened in Brazil? Why do you hate aliens so much?"

She knew he was fishing, but it wouldn't do him any good, no matter how great his training in micro-expressions. After fifteen years of practice, her stomach didn't clench. She didn't even feel sick to her stomach. She couldn't feel anything. She couldn't allow herself to. "Why do you assume those two are related? I've been through a lot – you met me with a knife wound, why not ask about that?"

"Your face is normally easy to read. But just the word 'Brazil' and you shut down so hard, and so fast there's nothing. And if there's nothing, then there's usually a very big something you're trying to hide."

"Is this the part where I burst into tears and tell you my life story? There's nothing because I can't remember anything. Get out of my way." She tried crawling past him.

"I can help you, Meg."

She sighed. "Why did you even bother?"

"What?"

"If you hate violence and love aliens so much why did you save me?"

The Doctor looked down. The truth was he thought she was someone else. His mind went back to that horrible, wonderful day. Five hundred thousand rads coursed through his body, slowly ripping him apart cell by cell. He was dying. And not dying. He would regenerate, so death wasn't the end of the world; still, his personality would shift and who knows what he'd look like afterward. It felt like dying. He didn't want to change.

The day the Doctor almost died was a low point in his life in more ways than the obvious. The Master came back, but he was even more broken than usual. Then he failed to save him again. Seeing Gallifrey, Rassilon and other Time Lords brought back ugly memories. Wilf, for all his wonderful heart, was painful to be around. He reminded him of Donna and their parting. Then there was knowing his life would be cut short soon.

But_ she_ saved him.

Saying goodbye to the last of his companions, on his way back to the TARDIS he fell into the snow, unable to walk anymore. That's when he met her. And _how_ she saved him. He blushed at the memory – not in shame, but warm and happy. Through her kiss, her warmth seeped into every part of himself, merging her life with his, healing him, and accepting even the darkest parts of him. When the pain disappeared, so did she.

He was not alone in the universe. There was one last Time Lady left, one that gave up a regeneration for him. And she looked so similar to the human Megara Savvides it was uncanny. It was the reason he had the TARDIS scan her to identify her species. Finding Pheonix was his new driving obsession. But it'd been months, or had it been years? Seeing Meg in that alley was like a punch in the gut. He thought he found her at last only to witness her murder.

"It was the right thing to do." He said, rubbing his neck. She narrowed her eyes. That looked an awful lot like a tell. He was hiding something.

"I want to help you," he repeated, and this time she felt he was telling the truth.

Meg shook her head. "Not even you and your magic box can make everything all better."

"I never said I could. But I can be your friend if you'll let me." _Why am I saying this? _He wondered.

She wavered. "I thought you figured it out already - it'll never work. Trouble follows me around."

"So we have something in common."

"I never stay in one place."

"My home travels in time and space; you can't get any more transient."

"I don't trust aliens."

"What about me?"

"You're all right."

"Well then. Friends?" _We can be friends and not travel together – I'm on Virginia Wolf's bowling team, doesn't make her a companion…._

Meg nodded.

"Let's keep going."


	7. Chapter 7: separate ways

"Let's try that again." The Doctor whispered cheerfully, pulling up another tile.

Meg moved to the opening, but the Doctor stopped her. "Me first."

Meg's mouth hung open. _Is this a friend thing – taking turns risking their life for the other?_ She thought she would like it more than she did. Seeing the Doctor lower himself into the room first, a room that could hold a monster, she felt a strong impulse to pull him back up to safety. She reached out to do just that when he let go and disappeared into the darkness.

"Doctor." She whispered. "Talk to me. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's empty."

Meg sighed with relief and followed him. "Where are we?"

"We're… here." He pointed to a room on the map. "A little off course, but almost there…"

The Treveen leaped into the room. They were trapped. Nowhere to run. She pulled her gun out but kept it lowered, watching to see what the Doctor would do, first. After all, the soldier the gun recently belonged to didn't do him a world of good.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A piercing whine came from the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. The creature shook its head, in pain, unable to cover its ears. It backed up a step.

"I don't want to hurt you." He said.

The Treveen growled and pointedly shook its head again against the noise of the screwdriver. _It's almost like… it understood him._ Meg thought.

"We didn't hurt your baby. You were in a crash. The humans here thought you were dead."

The Treveen growled again, tensing to spring – the pain of the sonic screwdriver's noise was not enough to keep it back.

_It's done listening._ Meg thought.

"This way." She said, pulling the Doctor into the hall and closing the door. He locked it with his screwdriver.

"We need to separate." She said.

"What?"

"So far only one's stalking us. The one it follows will lead it away, and the other leads everyone else to the TARDIS. We'll meet up when we can."

"You're…"

"That's plan B, right? We'll talk about plan C when we need to."

She turned and ran down a hallway. The Doctor watched her go, hoping the Treveen followed him when it broke through the door. He decided to loiter a while, to give himself better odds.

The door nearly split in two the first time the Treveen bashed itself into it. "Oops." He said, sprinting away. He thought he had more time.


	8. Chapter 8: the Armory

**The Armory:**

The Doctor ran through hallways in a wide circle and arrived at the armory only slightly winded. He expected the room to be empty, had wished it was empty. He immediately scanned the room for Meg. She wasn't there yet. It was still just general Lynch, Greg and Dr. Yo. Shouldn't the computer techs and the other two soldiers have made it by now?

The Treveen followed her. He resisted the urge to leave and find her. _Stick to the plan._

"We're evacuating. Meg's bringing the others." _ The others should be here already. If Meg doesn't have them for some reason, I'll have to go back._

"Doctor, if I could have a moment." The general called.

When the Doctor left the other two's hearing, he looked in the alien's eyes and asked, "So how dead are we?"

"I'm no MD, but from what I know, death, like pregnancy, is generally a binary state, you either are, or you aren't."

The general didn't laugh.

"I'll do everything in my power to get everyone out of here alive."

"I was in a war, sir, don't spare my feelings."

"It's not good. Two are used to pit against an army of hundreds, but they've also been through a lot. I've seen one, and it's not at 100%. If we can get to my ship, we'll be all right."

General Lynch nodded. "Let's move out, people." He ordered. They armed themselves to the teeth the moment they arrived; there was nothing else to do but follow.

The Doctor took Mash aside, hurrying a little to get some privacy from the other two. "You know Meg's story. Were aliens responsible?"

"Why, cause the attack was inhuman? People just suck sometimes."

"I guess…" _That was a deflection._ The Doctor noticed.

"You almost sound disappointed."

"No, I just… It would explain a few things. Was a man named Ian Masterson in any of the reports?"

"There was a man who carried her out of the rain forest. Hospital employees describe him as a handsome white man, around 6'2", blonde, blue eyes. Does that match your guy?"

"What happened to him?"

"He didn't speak any of the languages people tried with him. He sat by her bed a week till the fever broke and she identified herself. She called her grandfather, and the man disappeared. People said he was her guardian angel."

"What do you think happened?"

Greg shrugged and looked away. "I don't know. It's above my security clearance."

The Doctor frowned and dropped the subject.

"So where are you and Meg going next?" Greg asked, changing the subject.

"Nowhere." The Doctor said, only half believing himself. "I don't think we're a good match."

"Oh." Greg looked bummed.

"…My last companion, Donna…" The Doctor swallowed, the pain and the guilt still fresh. "She told me once I needed someone to stop me. I think Meg might push me, instead."

"So, do you interview? Is there an application process? How do you choose new companions?"

The Doctor considered the young, eager blonde. "I don't know. Right time, right place. Gut instinct, I suppose." He'd have an answer for him by the end of this adventure, one way or another.

"Are we really going to let them go?" Dr. Yo whispered to the general as the Doctor and Mash walked further ahead.

The general was almost offended by the question. "The Doctor is going to get the non-combatants out of harm's way. As soon as everyone's safe, I'm going to blow this base and those two aliens off the map."

"Good plan."


	9. Chapter 9: the Computer Room

**The Computer Room:**

Meg crept through the hallways, jumping at the smallest sound, all her senses on high alert. Every noise she made sounded incredibly loud in the dark, a beacon for the beast to find her. Even the dim glow of her cell's screen seemed too much to risk, but she knew she'd make even more noise without it. She wished the Doctor was with her – he wasn't afraid like she was. The darkness was suffocating her, the air cloying and warm. A metallic scent was in the air. Pipes? Mud? She couldn't identify the source.

It was following her. She knew it was. She reached into her pocket and rubbed the corner of her second cellphone, the old one, and tried to control her breathing. The hallways seemed to go on forever. Was she circling? She dropped the map; it was useless. She was lost. Things started feeling a little fuzzy around the edges. _Brazil…. Braz - _She didn't see the obstacle until it was too late. She tripped and hit the ground hard, landing in something warm, wet, and sticky.

Blood.

She tried to get up and gasped in pain. She'd twisted her ankle. _Get up. Get up. Get up. _They would find her if she stayed here.


	10. Chapter 10: Brazil

chapter 10: Brazil

They reached the hangar with a breath of relief. Just one more set of doors and they would be in the desert, with the threat locked behind steel doors.

The Doctor saw her first. "Meg!"

She didn't seem to see them at first. The others' flashlights joined his as they hurried across the hangar to meet up.

Greg cursed when he saw the whole front of her body covered in blood. She limped closer.

"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked. "What happened?"

The Doctor prided himself on his observational skills. That said, on more than one occasion, he was known to miss rather obvious clues. Meg was acutely aware of the world around her. Tactical awareness was a survival skill and a good sign in a prospective companion… hypervigilance, however, was a sign of PTSD. Meg was a fighter – with a past he was more and more afraid to find out about. He should have put two and two together before starring down the barrel of her gun, her eyes holding no recognition in them.

Her eyes. The Doctor's jaw dropped when he saw her eyes. One didn't look haunted like that from just anything. _She remembers everything. _ The Doctor realized. _Whatever happened, she knows, and she never told anyone._

_How?_

_Why? _

_Eight years old!_

Grudgingly, the Doctor realized he might have judged her too harshly – he was still right, but she had some serious issues that didn't come from watching Predator at too young an age.

"Call them off."

"Call who off?"

"Stop killing people. Call the monsters off, or I swear, I'll kill you."

"Yeah, no problem, Meg. Whatever you want." Greg said. "Quick question, where are you, right now?"

Meg turned the gun on Greg. "Shut up."

"Yep, shutting up."

The Doctor thought frantically. _Come on; you've got to have some trick. You train. You are insanely disciplined. It's important for you to keep your secret. You know you have a trigger, so what does a person like you do? _

_A trick, something to break the loop. But what?_

Her mantra. It was her anti-trigger. "Brazil."

She blinked, the world coming back in focus. She looked so lost, the Doctor wanted to hug her and tell her everything was going to be alright from here on in – he would make sure of it. Except he made up his mind, he wouldn't travel with her again not a half hour ago. Was he already having second thoughts? Honestly, his second thoughts were having second thoughts.

"I'm so sorry Greg," Meg said, shakily. "I can't believe I thought… it's been years since I've had a flashback. I-I thought it was over."

"It's not your fault," Greg said, tentatively hugging her. "It's okay. What's important is you recognize me now, your boyfriend."

She laughed.

"No?" he smiled. "Okay, you got me. Soul mate."

It felt good to laugh after this incredibly awful day. She rested her head on his chest for a moment. If she could, she would have fallen asleep right there. "Thanks. Both of you."

Greg's brow furrowed. "Hang on, how can you have a flashback if you don't remember anything?"

"Malarial nightmare." She waved it away, with a fragile smile. "It's a whole bunch of nonsense. I was seeing zombies and pink elephants by the end of it."

"Look out!" the General shouted, firing at a Treveen.


	11. Chapter 11: Best Laid Plans

**Best Laid Plans **

One of the Treveens appeared like a ghost in the dark. It snarled and retreated against the onslaught of the General's bullets, but did not flee. Dr. Yo joined in with his weapon. It howled, and Meg saw a black liquid spill down its flanks. The Doctor was shouting. Greg raised his gun, but Meg put her arm on his to stop him. "Wait. Something's off."

The Treveen wasn't fleeing or attacking – with good reason to do both. "I think – "

The second Treveen came up unseen from behind. Meg pushed Greg out of the way, and tried to follow, but lost too much momentum. The Treveen fell on her, pushing all the air from her lungs. Greg hit the floor, the gun in his hand skittering into the darkness. He rolled over with terror on his face. The General and his doctor were still firing at the other Treveen. In a second, Meg would be dead. She closed her eyes.

"Not my cub!" the Doctor screamed.

Meg opened her eyes.

"She's my cub. If you have any sense of empathy, think about what you're going to do. We had nothing to do with your cub's death. I am so, so sorry for your loss. I've lost my offspring before, and I know the pain you're feeling is indescribable, but it is an accident that happened 50 years ago. The creatures that took you from your home are long dead. What you're doing here isn't justice. It's lashing out."

The Treveen listened and hadn't killed her yet. But it wasn't moving off of her either. Meg managed a few small shallow breaths, her body screaming for more, but she dared not struggle and call attention back to herself.

"Please. Just let her go." The Doctor stepped closer.

The Treveen growled, but the Doctor was done begging. "Get off her." He commanded. "You know what it is to harm my cub." He took out his sonic screwdriver. "You didn't like this last time – and that was on a low setting. I could amplify it to liquify soft tissues. Do you want another enemy on this alien planet or would you finally like an ally?"

The Treveen shifted its weight. Meg tensed. She expected the creature's teeth on the back of her neck, the next second, but it was merely stepping off her back. The Doctor grabbed her and dragged her to her feet. It didn't slip her notice he turned to put himself between her and the Treveen.

"Are you alright?"

Meg nodded. She turned and looked at the now placidly sitting Treveen. Her scarred face looked up at Meg. She nodded at it. "Thank you." She said, to them both.

Crisis over, she noticed now the hangar had gone silent.

"Oh, no…"


	12. Chapter 12: Apt to go Astray

**Chapter 12: Apt to Go Astray**

Dr. Yo pushed the dead Treveen off the General. The man's neck was hamburger. Dr. Yo sat next to his boss' body, numb.

"What happened?" The Doctor asked.

"When the one that attacked the girl didn't kill everyone while we were distracted, the other stopped being the diversion." Dr. Yo explained. "The General managed a lucky shot… and a not so lucky one…" he gestured to Greg's body. "Death throes squeezed off another, hit his assistant."

Greg coughed up blood.

"He's still alive!"

Meg ran to him, pressing her hands against his chest. General Lynch's stray shot hit Greg high in the chest, close enough to the heart to know he wouldn't survive long. She looked to the Doctor. "Can you save him?"

He shook his head.

"Don't be mad at the General." Greg said gasping.

"It was an accident." Meg agreed, trying to soothe him. "I know he'd never hurt you on purpose."

Greg shook his head. "He just needed to know… what happened to you …so he could avenge them... He never meant it to hurt you."

"I'm a big girl, I can handle it. You need to rest, and stop worrying."

"I'll rest when I'm dead." Greg said, a weak smile around his lips.

"Is there anything I can tell your family?" Meg asked, gently.

"The military will tell them… what they need to know… Area 51 is classified… you can't tell them what really… happened."

"Watch me." the Doctor said.

He shook his head. "Their story will be better… more thrilling than friendly fire… I should confess something, Doctor… I stole General Lynch's password once... He'd have my job if he knew."

"I won't tell him if you won't. If that's all you're worried about, you'll be just fine."

"No, Doctor. I… looked into something I shouldn't have … _above my security clearance_… You were right." Greg was slurring his words now, losing focus. "Meg?"

"I'm here."

"I'm glad I met you … the luckiest person… in the world. I'll send your love …to your parents?"

Meg swallowed and nodded as Greg slipped into unconsciousness. A few moments later, he died. But the Doctor wasn't thinking about him. He was busy berating himself for being so dense. _Eight years old – she wouldn't be there alone… she called her grandfather… her parents must have died on that trip._


	13. Chapter 13: Bitter Revelations

**Chapter 13: Bitter Revelations**

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said.

"I only met Greg today, but… he seemed like a really great guy."

"And the General? How did you meet him?"

"I was a witness to… a crime. He was assigned to me." Meg answered as vaguely as possible. "He'd try to set off my flashbacks to see if he could get a clue about what happened. Obviously, I wasn't his biggest fan, but he wasn't all bad. When the investigation closed, he taught me tips to stay grounded in reality, suggested martial arts to deal with some of my anger issues."

"What was Greg talking about before? About you being lucky?"

Back to talking about Brazil, she sighed, annoyed that he wouldn't let it go. But he pulled her out of her flashback, and didn't make her feel bad about pointing a gun at him while in it. Not everyone would be so understanding. She felt she owed him something. "It's not a secret or anything. Everyone finds out sooner or later – I'm surprised at your restraint, given your curiosity." Reluctantly, she took out her phone, the new one, and handed it to him. "Ain't the internet great? Google me – Savvides with two v's."

"Google what?"

"Doesn't matter. Nothing I've done with my life has managed to top it." Now the Doctor would treat her like a victim. Even if he used the term 'survivor', one terrible moment in time would always define her. Meg told herself she didn't care what he thought. After all, they wouldn't be traveling together anymore.

The Doctor did as he was told. Sure enough, on the top result was the news article: _American Girl Survives Massacre in Brazil_. "Meg, I'm…"

"'Sorry?' I've never met anyone who wasn't." she shrugged, hating the pity. "Can't remember a thing, so don't be. Blocked it out. From the trauma I'm told, though I doubt the cerebral malaria helped – I was in a coma for a while. It's all in the articles."

The Doctor scrolled down, her life in headlines.

Brazilian Horror: Entire Village Dead

Death Toll: 58 and Counting

No Terrorist Group Takes Credit for Butchery

Still No Leads in Largest Massacre in Brazil's History

Three Weeks Later: Survivor Found Near Death

Witness Recovering – No Memory of Carnage

Survivor No-Show at Massacre Memorial

Survivor on Suicide Watch

Massacre Theories Get Weird: Top 10

Tragedy follows Massacre Survivor

Massacre Horror Movie Plans Stalled

Victim to Champion: MMA results

Victim to Vigilante?

Judge Rules Self Defense

Meg took her phone back before he was done. "Light reading for another time. I don't suppose I can google you, Doctor… who? Whatever results popped up would be drowned in medical ads."

He made a noncommittal noise, too overwhelmed to have a better response. "And your _uncle _saved you?"

"Yeah." She smiled softly. "He said we were the same, and that's how he found me. Quantum entanglement, 'spooky action at a distance', and some such nerdiness. I guess he was right, 'cause it wasn't a one-and-done rescue, he became family."

"Hm." The Doctor grunted again.

Fifteen years ago the Master just happened to be in this little backwoods village around the time everyone was brutally slaughtered? Did he do it? Did he kill everyone, and then become a little girl's savior just for the irony that she didn't know any better? The Doctor's stomach soured. Unfortunately, it sounded exactly like the twisted thing the Master would do. How could the Doctor even begin to tell her what a monster her uncle was? Would she even believe him? How could he leave her in danger and not try?

"How did you survive?"

"The reigning theory is that I missed the whole thing. See, the air gets pretty cold at night, but the river is always warm, so it's a common thing to head down to the Amazon and take a midnight dip. I got lost, got sick, got found, the end. Three weeks alone in the rainforest is miracle enough."

_How did you really survive, Meg?_ The Doctor wanted to ask, but he knew she wouldn't tell him the truth. Not yet.

_Not yet?_ He caught himself. _I won't have another chance to find out. I'm dropping her off, right after the Treveen._ He could look into the matter by himself, though. Even if she didn't seem interested, the dead still deserved justice.


	14. Chapter 14: Home (planet)

**Chapter 14: Home (planet)**

"What is going to happen to it?" Dr. Yo asked. After the relentless aggression of the past couple hours, it was unnatural to see a Treveen placidly watch them from the fringes of their small group.

The Doctor answered firmly. "_She_ will be taken back to her home planet."

"That's it? How many dead back on base and it just goes free?"

"She's letting us go free." Meg shrugged. "Would _you _like to take her into custody?"

The scientist looked at the dog-like monster and decided to study the virtues of silence. Meg, the Doctor and the Treveen left through the hangar bay doors into the desert in silence.

When they reached the TARDIS, the Doctor immediately began his wild dance around the center column, flipping switches and pushing buttons.

The Treveen growled.

"Gone." The Doctor said.

The Treveen growled some more.

"I agree." The Doctor said.

"What's wrong? Why's it doing that?" Meg asked nervously.

"Just small talk – she asked where your mother is. She was sympathizing. She said if it saved her cub, it was worth it."

The Treveen went over to Meg and laid her enormous head in her lap. _Really ugly dog, really ugly dog, really ugly dog. _She chanted. Hesitating for a moment, Meg petted her. "Thank you."

With a grating thump, the Doctor announced they arrived. He opened the door.

She looked over the Treveen world. A brand-new planet. It looked similar to the salt flat they just left, but _green_. Not a plant to be seen, but the stone dust was a dull emerald color. Meg felt giddy looking over the barren landscape. She bent down and touched the ground. Alien sand. She smiled at the Doctor in amazement. The Doctor looked confused for a moment, as if surprised at her reaction. She rolled her eyes at him. She'd have to be a robot not to be affected by the discovery of a new world. She stepped outside. The gravity immediately lowered slightly. She bounced, testing it.

The Doctor smiled. Seeing a companion's wonder never got old. "Don't go too far. The TARDIS has an air pocket around us now, but you can't breathe the atmosphere here."

She turned and asked, "You have a time-space machine. Why don't we go back to the time of the crash and save the ship?"

The Doctor shook his head. "The baby Treveen's death was meant to be. Time is stable there, it can't be changed… and by being in area 51, so is Greg and the General's death - unless _another_ time traveler happened to come along and accidentally saved them."

"That's a rule?"

"A Law of Time. Yes. Because there's no reason for us to go back. Plus, if we go back to save him there would be two of us in the same place at the same time. A paradox. Sometimes you can get around them, not so much anymore. Usually the planet implodes."

Meg was silent a moment. Asking him to change time and save her parents would result in a timeline where she would never need to: a paradox. The word 'sometimes' was intriguing; something to explore in depth at a later date. She stepped back inside. "So I'm your _cub_?"

"Figuratively speaking. I feel… responsible for you. It was an imagery the Treveen could understand."

"Why not tell her I was your mate? You're a little young to be my father. I'm surprised she believed you."

"It wouldn't have been a threat then. Traveens never lapse into murderous rage if their mate gets hurt, only with their cubs." The Doctor already killed for Meg, he had no doubt he would be forced to do so again to keep her safe. Meg was like a priceless diamond: beautiful, incredibly hard, yet surprisingly easy to shatter. "And I'm nine hundred years old. It's very believable."

"You're nine hundred?" she asked, surprised.

"And twenty six."

"Uh-huh… well. You look good." Meg didn't know why this bothered her. "Will she be all right?"

"It's sometimes harder to live than to die, but even a Treveen's heart heals with time."

"Maybe. But there'll always be the scar."

The Doctor closed the doors. "Come on. I think I owe you a mountain."


	15. Chapter 15: K2

**Chapter 15: K2**

He handed her a steaming cup of hot chocolate. "K2: Summit. You know after all this time on Earth, I've never been? Everest, sure, but…"

"Hmm." She couldn't tear her gaze away from the vista of ice and rock around her. The air was clear and cold and nothing moved below her. Broad peak stood in front of her, and the Gasherbrums spread out on either side, the Rimo peaks were tiny in the distance. She picked out K12, Saltoro Kangri, Mount Hardinger, and Saser Kangri like old friends. All of them were so much more breathtaking than the pictures she'd seen. She thought of the Doctor. He probably could rattle off all the stars' names. She, on the other hand, could name each of the peaks in this range. She leaned back against the TARDIS doors, surprised to be at peace.

"28,280 feet." The Doctor cheerfully rambled on. "Second highest peak on Earth – above sea level that is... " He hesitated to ask why she chose this place and unwittingly hurt her.

She took a sip of chocolate. "This has been on my bucket list forever, so the game would be played as it should be, but I always found some excuse to avoid it. Now I wonder why I waited so long."

"Game?"

"Fate." She turned to him with a bittersweet smile. "My parents had a weird way of picking vacation spots. They'd open an atlas at random with their eyes closed and wherever their finger landed, that's where we'd go. One time when it was my turn, I picked K2. This mountain kills almost a fourth of those who attempt to summit – professional climbers - a lot more than those who attempt Everest. I was eight, naturally we had to choose somewhere else, but I think Papa was disappointed all the same. When I chose again… I picked Brazil."

Meg shook her head. She could have insisted they go to the foothills of the Karakorum 2. But they had just come back from two weeks of backpacking in the Rockies. It was cold, and her legs ached, and she was in the mood for somewhere else.

"It wasn't your fault." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, well, war isn't yours either. Hard to stop the blame game once it starts."

"What?"

"The general saluted you - he wouldn't salute a civilian. You told him off; you don't like the military, but you're comfortable commanding soldiers. You have an extreme distaste for guns, you spend your life stopping conflict… and your eyes… " she shrugged. "It wasn't that great a leap."

He turned away with a frown. It was empirically his fault. So many times in history he could have made a different choice that would have wiped Daleks out of existance.

She took his hand. "You're a good man, you know that, right?"

She didn't know him, but she was stubborn so he took a sip of the hot chocolate, not bothering to argue.

"Doctor…"

"Hmm?" he turned just as a snowball hit him in the face.

Meg laughed and ran to put the TARDIS in between them.

"You'd better run." He threatened, picking up a fistful of snow. He rounded the police box. Meg was waiting for him, smashing both handfuls of snow on either side of his face.

He tackled her into the snow bank. She yelped and wiggled as loose snow drifted down her jacket.

"Serves you right." He smiled down on her.

She looked up at him with a tender smile, and put her arms around his neck.

The Doctor's smile disappeared. This was the first time she showed romantic ideas and he'd hoped her distain for aliens would keep her in a strictly-friends mentality. He just couldn't reciprocate, and together in the snow – it was just a too familiar situation with a too similar face.

"Meg, I, uh…"

One hand lifted his collar, the other stuffed in a snowball. The Doctor leapt up, trying to remove it as quickly as possible. Meg rolled in the snow laughing. The Doctor had just enough concentration free to log the fact for once, he was thinking of romance and his companion was playing a trick.

He didn't have to be careful not to give the wrong impression. He smiled and threw himself wholeheartedly into revenge.

They were soaked through and panting before they stopped.

"I have an astro-map inside…" the Doctor offered. _One more trip won't hurt anything._

"Dry clothes first." Meg insisted, starting to shiver. _ One more trip won't hurt anything._

They picked themselves up and re-entered the TARDIS. Meg yawned. It was difficult to keep track of the time, but it'd been a full day – or two?

"We'll go tomorrow." The Doctor said. "Pick a room. Any room."

"What about your room?"

The Doctor looked up sharply. "What?"

"Well, aren't you going to tell me what your room looks like? I don't want to steal yours by mistake."

He rubbed his neck. The second time in two hours he'd jumped to conclusions. But he blamed history: when the others asked, it usually wasn't so innocently. Technically, they were all his rooms. Besides, the TARDIS would rearrange the layout so it'd be impossible to pick his usual. Probably. "Oh, I usually just nap here. There are four hundred and seventy-nine bedrooms, I'll risk it."

Meg's forehead wrinkled. Was it so hard to give one distinguishing feature? She shook her head, not interested enough to puzzle it out. "What about dry clothes? Do I really have to walk a half mile to the nearest closet?"

"Every room should have some jimjams. That'll do until morning, yeah?"

She wandered down the hall, picking the second closest bedroom – convenience would choose the nearest room, so assumed it'd be the Doctor's.

Her room was bare as a barracks, with an empty trunk at the foot of the bed and a blanket so thin it'd double as a sheet. She went to the next room, and the next with more or less the same result. She'd been in worse hotels. She collected an armful of blankets from the other rooms, stripped, and went straight to sleep, dreaming of their next adventure.


End file.
